Counting toy



July 3, 1951" C. E. M CORMICK COUNTING TOY Filed Jan. 30, 1946 C/arence E M Cbr/rg/crK (Ittomeg Patented July 3, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to a toy and more particularly to a counting toy.

The principal object of the invention is the provision of a toy incorporating a counting mechanism therein and means externally thereof for actuating the said counting mechanism,

A further object of the invention is the provision of a counting toy incorporating means for visually indicating each rotation of an exterior portion of the toy.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a counting toy incorporating means for audibly indicating each rotation of an exterior portion of the toy.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a counting toy incorporating means for audibly and visually indicating each rotation of an exterior portion of the toy.

The counting toy shown and described herein has been designed to provide a simple and attractive toy for a child which will facilitate the childs learning various numerals, particularly in orderly sequence, as in counting. The toy has been designed in the form of an animal having an exterior portion such as a tail which may be revolved by the child and which in turn will impart suitable movement to a counting device within the toy to provide a visual accumulative counting action. The counting toy may also be employed for any counting operation which may be performed manually thereby making the toy an attractive, useful, as well as educational article.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed can be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein Figure l is a top plan view of a counting toy.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of one of the body members of the counting toy taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

By referring to the drawings and Figures 1 and 2 in particular, it will be seen that a counting toy has been disclosed which consists of a representation of an animal such as a pig, and is formed of two solid body portions I and II, respectively, the body portions being connected to each other by means of dowel pins I2. The dowel pins I2 engage registering openings I3 in the respective body portions I0 and II. The body portions I0 and II have oppositely disposed, matching, cutaway sections I4 and I5, respectively, which form, when the counting toy is in assembled position as shown in Figure l, a cavity in the otherwise solid body and which cavity is adapted to receive a counting mechanism. The cutaway sections I4 and I5 have portions extending outwardly through the back of the respective body portions I0 and II so as to provide for the visual observation of the counting mechanism disposed within the cavity so formed. A section of transparent material I6 forms a closure with respect to the opening in the back defined by the upwardly extending portions of the cutaway sections I4 and I5, and the section of transparent material I6 is in engagement with grooves I'I formed in the edges of the cutaway portions,

The counting mechanism positioned within the cavity in the counting toy consists of a shaft I8, one end of which is disposed in a socket I9 in the solid body portions I0 and H and the other end of which extends outwardly of the body portions l0 and II and is bent in the form of an animals tail, as indicated by the numeral 20. The shaft I8 carries three counting wheels freely mounted thereon, the wheels being indicated by the numerals 2|, 22 and 23. A fourth wheel 24 is also positioned on the shaft I8 but is fastened thereto so that it may be employed to drive pinions disposed between the wheels and indicated by the numerals 25, 28 and 21. A fifth wheel 31 is also positioned on the shaft I8 and forms means spacing the counting wheels 2|, 22 and 23 so as to cause them to register with the said opening for visibility therethrough. It will be observed that the pinion 25 is positioned on a spacing disc 23 also positioned on the shaft I8 and a portion 29 of which extends below the several wheels and engages registering openings in the respective body portions I0 and il so as to hold the pinion supporting spacing disc 28 in stationary position with respect to the shaft I8.

It will thus be seen that when the tail 20 is turned one revolution the shaft I8 will revolve one revolution and the wheel 24 will revolve one revolution as it is fixed to the shaft I8. During this one revolution, the pinion 25 carried on the spacing disc 28 will engage an internally positioned offset in the wheel 24 and thereby be revolved once and impart that motion to the wheel 23 thereby moving it one-tenth of a revolution.

The wheels 2|, 22 and 23 have numerals positioned about their periphery from 1 to 0, inclusive, and one of these numerals will therefore register beneath the transparent window is; for example, the numeral 1. Ten revolutions of the tail 26 will revolve the wheels ten times and at each revolution the wheel 23 will revolve one tenth of a revolution and bring a new and higher numeral into view beneath the window 16. When the tenth revolution occurs, the pinion 26, which is positioned between the wheels 22 and 23 by means of a supporting disc 86 and held stationary with respect to the body portions I and II, will impart the same movement to the wheel 22 thereby urging it to the first position so that the numeral appears, the numeral 1 being on the wheel 22 and the 0 being on the wheel 23, both in registry beneath the window Hi. This mechanism is exactly the same as that used in speedometers in motor vehicles, and as its construction and mechanism is well known in the art, it is not further illustrated or described herein.

By referring again to the wheel 24, which is positioned on the shaft 18, it will be observed that there is a pin 3i extending outwardly therefrom into the adjacent cavity formed by the oppositely disposed, cutaway sections it and in the body portions it and M, respectively. This pin is provided to form an audible sound with each rotation of the tail which revolves the wheel 24 one turn and the audible sound is created by the pin 31 engaging one end of a vibrating spring 32 which is positioned within a cutaway section 33 in the body portion Hi. It is held therein by means of a staple 34 and also by reason of an end 35 of the spring 32 being turned at right angles to the remainder thereof and in sorted into an opening 36 in the body portion H].

It will thus be seen that a counting toy has been devised which incorporates an attractive toy with a useful and educational counting mechanism which is particularly helpful in teaching a child to count, as it enables the child to hear and see the results of the motion imparted to the counting mechanism. As with similar counting mechanisms as employed as in speedometers, the counting mechanism ma be reset by revolving the tail 2!] and master shaft 18 backwardly.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that a counting toy may be made with one counting wheel in it or a number of counting wheels so that any desired number may appear in the window opening thereof. It will also be seen that the toy is of simple and durable construction and that it may be economically formed and hence widely distributed. I

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a counting toy a pair of oppositely disposed registering solid body members simulating an animal form, matching cavities formed in the said body members, a counting mechanism positioned in the said cavities, the said counting mechanism including an axially extending supporting and motivating shaft, one end of the said shaft extending outwardly of the said body members and shaped to simulate an animal's tail, registering openings in the said bod members so that the counting mechanism may be viewed therethrough.

2. A toy including a body simulating an animal having a cavity formed therein, an opening in the said body communicating with the said cavity, a counting mechanism positioned in said cavity in registry with said opening, a portion of the said counting mechanism extending outwardly from the said body and simulating an animals tail to provide for the manual actuating of the said mechanism by the manipulation of the said extended tail simulating portion.

3. A toy including a body representing an animal and having a cavity formed therein, an opening in the said body communicating with the said cavity, a counting mechanism positioned in said cavity, a portion of the said counting mechanism extending outwardly from the said body in the form of the tail of the said animal, to provide for the manual actuating of the said mechanism by the manipulation of the said extended portion.

CLARENCE E. MCCORMICK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 202,305 Tucker Apr. 9, 1878 470,174 Beecher Mar. 8, 1892 1,120,456 Devall Dec. 8, 1914 1,147,978 Schmitt July 27, 1915 1,806,892 Connell May 26, 1931 2,114,167 Grauer Apr. 12, 1938 2,304,415 Lawson Dec. 8, 1942 2,361,843 Hirsch -1 Oct. 31, 1944 

